Friday, September 17, 2010

Mr. McKibben goes to Washington

The Middlebury College professor and activist went with three students from Unity College, which is located out in the "sticks" near my hometown in Maine. The little school, housed on a former commercial chicken farm, is known for its natural resource focus, as opposed to the business and liberal arts colleges that populate the area. Idealism is hard to juxtapose on the reality of dealing with the human animal. The mission was symbolic: to have the Obama administration reinstall a solar panel that once graced the roof of The White House under the Carter administration. Reagan remo ved them upon taking office, another symbolic gesture. Here we are, faced with pending peril at the hands of our own ineptitude to deal with scientific reality. And now fear of Fox News. But remember, Mr. President. There's a wind generator at the Bush Manse on Walker's Point in Maine. Of course that's a facade, but they know how to play the game. Our side clearly does not.

"We've run out of spare decades to deal with climate change — the summer's events in the Arctic, in Russia, inPakistanproved that with great clarity. We know what we need to do, and we must do it. Enthusiastically."

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Name: Mark A. York

Location:Hailey, Idaho

The wisdom and punditry of Mark A. York: Fishery biologist, journalist, Historian, Eagle Scout, and novelist. I was a staff writer for The Livingston Enterprise in Livingston, Montana. I wrote special projects for the Idaho Mountain Express
in 2011. I'm the author of Patriot on the Kennebec and the global warming eco-thrillers, Warm Front and Heat Wave.

Thank you to Mark A. York, a descendant of Reuben Colburn, for information about the crucial role his ancestor played in Arnold's march to Quebec. The Colburn House in Pittston, Maine is on the National Register thanks to his efforts and is open to the public.